The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Schizachyrium scoparium plant and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name ‘Smoke Signal’ the “new cultivar” and “the new plant.” ‘Smoke Signal’ represents a new cultivar of little bluestem, an ornamental grass grown for landscape use. The new plant was the object of an open pollinated cross in the trial fields of a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA with the female parent the unreleased proprietary plant identified only by the breeder number K08-03-01 (not patented). The male parent is unknown and could have been any one of a number of seedlings and named cultivars in the breeding area as the pollen is normally windborne.
The two inventors initially selected the new cultivar in the summer of 2010 from a trial plot in Zeeland, Mich., and the single plant was given the breeder code of KH9-08-01. In the summer of 2012 the new plant passed the final phase of evaluation.
Schizachyrium ‘Smoke Signal’ has been successfully propagated by culm division at the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich. since the spring of 2011. The resultant asexually propagated plants have remained stable and true to type for all traits of the original plant in successive generations.